


"I'm Sorry."

by dNwfvBj9



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Accomplice Ending (Persona 4), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 21:14:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17515994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dNwfvBj9/pseuds/dNwfvBj9
Summary: The flowers are just beginning to bloom when he arrives in Inaba, cherry blossoms and spider lilies alike.





	"I'm Sorry."

**Author's Note:**

> Very, very loosely based off Soulmate AUs.

In one world, Yu Narukami has a scar on the back of his right hand. A scar like a healing burn, it's been there for as long as he can remember. It's strange—as a child, he doesn't remember ever playing with fire.

The flowers are just beginning to bloom when he arrives in Inaba, cherry blossoms and spider lilies alike.

* * *

Inaba is anything but an ordinary town, but Yu doesn't mind this. In a way, it's fun dashing through hallways and doors, feeling the power that comes from a sword in hand. He'll never admit it to anyone, but there's brutal satisfaction from breaking bones and slicing tendons. When sinew tears under his grip and black blood stains his clothes, Yu feels alive, more real than he's ever been.

Between days spent in another world and days spent in an unchanging classroom, his nights are spent with Adachi. Not because of some misplaced fondness or affection, but because of duty. Adachi is a Social Link, and Yu has vowed to cultivate _all_ his bonds. Of course, he doesn't tell Adachi this. Rather, he gives Adachi bland words about enjoying his company and wanting to know him better. "Because we're friends," he tells Adachi while delivering him tomorrow’s lunch. Adachi may frown as he accepts the lunchbox, but in his blood, Yu feels the familiar surge of power and smiles.

* * *

Spring, summer, fall—Yu spends languid months in Inaba until it’s finally winter. He's standing in the snow, Yosuke and Naoto beside him. It’s the first snowfall of the year, and like snowflakes, the weight of the moment settles on him. There's a decision Yu must make, and he does.

The snowflakes on his clothes melt as he heads inside without looking back.

* * *

Adachi asks him why, and Yu tells him, “Because we’re friends.” He supposes it’s true—of all the bonds he’s forged, Adachi’s has turned out to be the strongest. Maybe he had felt affection for him after all.

When Adachi hands him a lighter, it's with his right hand that Yu takes it. For a brief moment, their fingers touch—Izanagi burns away, and Magatsu-Izanagi forms from the ashes. The exhilaration Yu feels is almost overwhelming, and between heartbeats, he notices Adachi has a faint scar mirroring his own.

* * *

As he boards the train, the faces of his friends seem to blur and dissolve. Magatsu-Izanagi thrums in his veins, shattering his bonds.

"I'm sorry," Yu doesn't say. The train departs, and one world ends in fog.

* * *

In another world, Ryotaro Dojima accidentally burns his hand while lighting a cigarette. His burn heals and what is left is a scar on his left hand.

Another spring arrives, and Dojima greets his new partner as cherry petals flutter by his window, and spider lilies grow through the doorway.

* * *

His name is Tohru Adachi, and he says he’s from the city. They get along alright—coffee and lighters, caution tape to cordon off a dead body, Adachi is surprisingly pleasant to be around. Although Adachi isn’t a hard worker by anyone’s standards, he produces decent work when he tries. And even though he’ll never admit it to himself, Dojima finds him cute in the way a small animal is.

So Dojima enjoys his company, is it any surprise he seeks more of it?

Dojima gets used to having Adachi in his life—Adachi has a spare key now, and he knows where the coffee machine is at home. Dojima is content, but sometimes he worries about Adachi. Every so often, Adachi looks at him with amusement, perhaps even mockery. The sharpness in his eyes is unsettling, and Dojima wonders if he’s misjudged him. Of course, his intuition isn’t always right, so Dojima banishes the thought like it's merely imagination.

* * *

On the first snowfall of the year, Adachi makes two mugs of coffee for them. Watching snowflakes through the window, Dojima holds Adachi's left hand and notices a scar in the same shape as his own.

"Maybe we're soulmates," Adachi jokes after Dojima tells him. "But instead of a red string, we got matching scars."

Dojima had laughed at that. He’d chuckled and leaned in, and then—

* * *

"I'm sorry," Adachi tells him from behind a panel of glass, and the world continues on.


End file.
